Hanger support



Jan. 27, 1959 I A. E. F. JOHNSON HANGER SUPPORT Filed Feb. 14, 1955 t 7Wm."

IN V EN TORJ.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent HANGER SUPPORT Axel E. F. Johnson, Cincinnati,Ohio, assignor to American Hospital Supply Corporation, Evanston, 1511.,a corporation of Illinois Application February 14, 1955, Serial No.487,969 2 Claims. (Cl. 211105.1)

This invention relates to a hanger support, or the like. The inventionis particularly useful in connection with a support which may be mountedwithin shipping cases or containers or employed in other areas for thesupport of garment hangers and other objects.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sup port which isformed from a single strip of metal and which, although formed of arelatively thin material, provides in its finished form an extremelysturdy support bar while at the same time providing wide anchoringflanges for engaging cross members, etc. upon which the hanger supportis carried. A further object is to provide a support bar which iseffective in providing a rigid and firm support for hangers while at thesame time stabilizing the support against sidewise or tipping movementswhen in use, A still further object is to provide from a single sheet ofmetal, or the like, channel members formed at right angles to each otherand communicating with each other, whereby transverse channels areprovided for engaging abutments or supports while a longitudinal channelis provided for carrying garment supports and other objects, thejunction between the angularly-related channels being reinforced toprovide a uniformly sturdy support. Other specific objects andadvantages will appear as the specification proceeds.

The invention is shown, in an illustrative embodiment, by theaccompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a broken, part sectionalview, showing my hanger support mounted within a shipping case or box;Fig. 2, an enlarged perspective view of the hanger support removed fromthe case or box; Fig. 3, a transverse sectional view, the section beingtaken as indicated at line 3-3 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4, a bottom plan viewof the hanger support.

The hanger support, in the illustration given, is preferably formed froma single sheet of metal or other suitable material, the metal beingchanneled longitudinally to provide an intermediate hanger-supportingportion which is generally in the shape of an inverted V, as shown bestin Fig. 3. The inverted channel thus formed merges at its ends with endtransverse channels 11. Each transverse end channel has an outer,substantially imperforate end wall 12, a substantially flat top wall 13,and a depending inner wall 14 which merges with the channel wall 10. Thewall 14 lies along a plane substantially parallel with end wall 12, asillustrated in Figures 1 and 4, and is preferably tapered so as toextend downwardly and inwardly to meet the bottom edge of the channel10, as shown best in Fig. 2. In order to strengthen the two channelmembers 10 and 11 at their point of junction, I bulge the top of channel10 upwardly to form a raised portion 15, where the top of the channelmember 10 merges with the top wall 13 of channel 11. For the samepurpose, I cause the side walls of channel 10 to diverge slightly at 16as the channel 10 approaches and merges with the end channels 11. Withthis structure, I find that the hooks 17 of the hangers supporting thegar- ICC ments 18, as illustrated in Fig. 1, are held rather firmly andagainst endwise movement. As the side walls 16 diverge, there is africtional or gripping action of the book 17 engaging this portion ofthe support and the hook is thus held in a resilient but firm manner ateach end portion of the support 10. At the same time, the channelformation illustrated provides, with a minimum of metal, or the like, anextremely sturdy structure for supporting the hangers and the endchannels 11 provide wide gripping surfaces for maintaining the hangersupports upon rigid members such as bars 19 within a box or shippingcase 20. The raised end portions 15 serve not only as means for checkingthe sliding movement of different forms of hooks carried by the hangerportion 10, but also reinforce the web structure at a point which mightotherwise be a weak point in the supporting structure, while at the sametime the wide end channel members 11 distribute the weight of thesupport over an extended area of the fixed bars 19, etc., and the weightis transmitted through tapering webs 14 over a wide area from thechannel members 10.

While, in the foregoing specification, I have shown a specific hangersupport in considerable detail for the purpose of illustrating anembodiment of the invention, it will be understood that such details ofstructure may be varied widely by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. A hanger support formed from a single integral bar of fiat sheetmetaland comprising a longitudinalextending channel member in the form of aninverted V in cross section and endpieces extending at right angles tosaid channel member and forming inverted channels adapted to engagesupporting bars, said endpieces being provided with vertical end wallsconnected to said longitudinally-extending channel member bydownwardly-inclined web portions merging with the side walls of saidlongitudinal member and the crest of said channel near each endpiecebeing bulged upwardly where it merges with said endpiece, said webportions lying along planes substantially parallel with said end wallsand being spaced therefrom for receiving supporting bars therebetween.

2. A hanger support adapted to rest upon supporting bars, comprisingU-shaped endpieces adapted to receive said bars and an integrallongitudinally-extending channel member connecting said endpieces, saidlongitudinallyextending channel member being in thejform of an invertedV in crosssection, said U-shaped endpieces having depending end wallsand having depending webs extending in spaced parallel relationtherewith and merging with the side walls of saidlongitudinally-extending channel, the longitudinally'extending memberhaving a raised rib portion at each end where it merges with the top ofeach endpiece and providing a raised end at each limit of the crest ofthe longitudinally-extending channel member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS823,557 Speer June 19, 1906 1,764,931 Carlson June 17, 1930 1,880,480Ragsdale Oct. 4, 1932 2,196,624 Chester Apr. 9, 1940 2,265,790 YoungDec. 9, 1941 2,535,233 Ross Dec. 26, 1950 2,788,888 Fisk Apr. 16, 19572,805,780 Brennan Sept. 10, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 84,177 Sweden Aug. 27,1935

